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Microsoft announces the Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagships

The biggest news at today's Microsoft event in New York was, of course, the official announcement of two of the most leaked smartphones in recent times, the Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagships, designed to carry the flag for Windows 10 Mobile into 2016, with 'Hello' Iris recognition, Continuum support and upgraded specifications across the board, relative to the 18 month old Lumia 930.

In summary, the obvious question to ask is how much of a 'must' this upgrade, this new brace of flagships, is, especially for those with an existing Lumia 830 or 930 (or 1520). To be honest, everything above represents incremental improvements for 930/Icon owners, but they're all increments worth going for, especially for 930 owners, who will be eyeing up the extra power efficiency, storage expansion, Glance screen and better camera rather greedily. Anyone with a Lumia 1520 is faced with a slightly harder choice, since this already has the larger screen and at full RGB/1080p, plus the microSD support and Glance support.

Away from the prior flagships, the Lumia 950 in particular is going to be very tempting, taking existing 735 and 830 owners up to a spec level that competes with the best of Android. But all this misses the point slightly - Microsoft needs to make new friends, new customers with these flagships. Armed with the universality with Windows 10 on laptops, tablets and hybrids (Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book were announced during the same event, though are beyond the scope of AAWP), and with the possibility of hooking up a Microsoft Display Dock (Continuum), there are benefits here that should appeal to Windows 10-using businesses across the world.

Pricing is still being announced in most countries. As an example, Mobile Fun have the 950 at £450£500 inc VAT (price got changed 24 hours after launch!) and the 950 XL at £550 inc VAT in the UK. These feel a little high in this form, but remember that most of the target market will be picking these up on contract, so exact SIM-free prices are probably not that relevant.

Availability in all markets starts from November 2015, so at least a month from today's event.

Obviously, being a UK web site, we're unable to get hands-on with the devices at the New York launch, but the phones aren't expected for several weeks yet in a reviewable state and AAWP should be in the vanguard of those opinions.